Research at Shriners Hospitals for Children - Canada

The Research Unit

More than 300 different and distinct diseases affect the bones, joints, and supporting structures such as ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Many of these diseases are congenital (present at birth) and a great many are also inherited. For only a handful is the cause presently known.

Shriners Hospitals have always been involved in clinical research. In 1973, Dr Francis Glorieux was appointed director of research and founded the research unit at the Canadian Shriners Hospital. Today, the department counts an average of 65 full-time staff (researchers, technical personnel, post-doctoral and graduate students and administrative support staff) who work on more than 15 different research projects. The research unit is currently recruiting to add to the researcher roster.

The research unit of the Shriners Hospital - Canada is affiliated with McGill University in Montreal. The program includes a basic science component focusing on the study metabolic bone development and disorders as well as connective tissue function and abnormalities; a clinical component focusing on the study of osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle-bone disease) and genetic abnormalities such as vitamin-D-resistant rickets and other heritable bone diseases.

The Canadian research facility is among the most important in the Shriners Hospitals network and the most advanced worldwide in the research and treatment of OI. Funding for the research labs, which totals nearly $5 million a year, comes either directly from the research program of the Shriners Hospitals  or from granting agencies and industry.

The research unit also maintains a bone histology laboratory, an electron microscopy facility and a computer facility.

Find out information about Genetics Unit of the Shriners Hospital for Children in Montreal, Canada.

Research Affiliations

The research labs at Shriners Hospital - Canada have a strong affiliation with McGill University in Montreal. All principal investigators of the Shriners Hospital-Canada hold academic appointments at McGill University, some in several departments. Several researchers also hold professorial appointments at Université de Montréal. Post-doctoral and graduate students in the research department, as well as the clinical fellows training in paediatric metabolic bone disease, are registered at McGill University.

We also rely on McGill for compliance matters, such as human subjects (IRB) and administration of government funding.

Principal Investigators and Projects

There are presently nine principal investigators working in the research department:

Francis H. Glorieux, OC, M.D., Ph.D.
-clinical investigation of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and other heritable bone diseases.

Reggie Hamdy, M.D.
-research on the effect of BMP-7 on distraction osteogenesis, as well as in outcomes and multicenter studies.

Eunice R. Lee, Ph.D.
-the study of the cartilage/bone interface in growth and disease.

John S. Mort, Ph.D.
-research on connective tissue matrix degradation.

Frank T. Rauch, M.D.
-head of the the Bone Morphology unit with special interest in cortical bone development
-in charge of the clinical laboratories and clinical research

Anneliese Recklies, Ph.D.
- research on endogenous defense mechanisms, to prevent cartilage degradation.
-in charge of the computer and electronic data facility.

Peter Roughley, Ph.D.
-connective tissue and pathophysiology project as well as in the molecular diagnosis program (supported in part through the hospital budget)

René St-Arnaud, Ph.D.
-research on vitamin D synthesis and its role in bone as well as gene expression in bone cells.

Pierre Moffatt, Ph.D.
-research to characterize new proteins secreted by the bone-forming cell, the osteoblast.